The Furthest City Light Reviewed By Janet Walker of Bookpleasures.com

Janet Walker

Reviewer
Janet Walker: Janet is the author of Colour To Die For,
first of the Fee Weston Mystery Series. Janet lives in Australia and
when she is not writing about P.I. Fee Weston's fight for truth,
justice and a livable cash flow, she writes articles for magazines
and fund raises for Australia's wildlife carers - heroes of the bush.
For more about Janet and Fee visit Janet'sWEBSITE

I sometimes find prologues
at the beginning of a book a downer – authors who use a prologue to
foreshadow events in a story spoil what might have been a good read.
I do, though, get excited by a prologue which contains quality
writing which engenders understanding and empathy for the main
character. I was excited by the prologue of Jeanne Winer’s novel,
The Furthest City Light.

The story’s narrator,
Public Defender, Rachel Stein is doing it tough. Twelve years in the
job, Rachel is approaching burnout when she takes on a client whose
defense for murdering her husband is: battered wife syndrome. At the
time of the story, 1984, this defense was only recognised in a few US
states. Emily, the defendant, is a woman who has hidden the beatings
she suffered from an abusive husband until, about to be attacked
again, she grabs a pair of scissors and ends his life. Rachel
believes passionately in Emily’s innocence and works desperately
hard to win her an acquittal.

In a same sex relationship
with Vicki, a medical doctor, Rachel finds it impossible to switch
off from her work role and after Emily’s trial is over Rachel’s
tunnel vision causes her life to become a train wreck – struck down
by feelings of failure and the imminent breakdown of her relationship
with Vicki, she resigns from the public defender’s office.

The Furthest City Light
was for me, two books in one. The first section describes Rachel’s
relationship with partner Vicki and the pretrial investigation
necessary for Emily’s defense, both written with humour and an
insight into the private and public life of a state defense attorney.
I can think of only one word to describe the writing of the courtroom
scenes of Emily’s trial and the word is excellent.

The second section of the
book finds Rachel, worn down by the problems of her private and
public life unable to focus on anything or anyone. Redemption comes
from an unlikely source – friend Maggie has broken her ankle and
won’t be able to join a volunteer brigade travelling to Nicaragua
to help the democratically elected government fight off the murderous
contra gangs funded by the CIA. A trade embargo placed on
Nicaragua by the Reagan Administration, they are in dire need; food
and medicine is almost non-existent. Rachel, for the first time in
weeks, makes a decision; she will go to Nicaragua in place of Maggie.

Vicki, upset by Rachel’s
decision to join the brigade, warns her this could be the final straw
in their just about foundered relationship. Promises of letters and
phone calls are made by Rachel and Vicki reluctantly agrees to wait
for her return.

Arriving in hot sweaty
Managua, Rachel questions whether joining the brigade will be a cure
or curse for her depressed mindset. Surrounded by other US
volunteers, she discovers that ashamed of their government’s
treatment of a country whose only crime is to be tired of US
interference, they have come to Nicaragua to help rebuild a clinic
destroyed by a contra gang.

The guys and gals in the
brigade are fully rounded characters; as in life, some nice, some
nasty and some, who aren’t going to make it. Billeted with local
people they all encounter a way of life where survival is a day to
day proposition. Visiting Nicaragua during the timeframe of the
story, author, Jeanne Winer’s description of people, places and
events in a war that should never have happened is heartbreakingly
real.

Despite life being
exceedingly cheap in the eighties in Nicaragua, Rachel’s narrative
is often funny; short of everything except bravery and hope,
Nicaraguans are skilled recyclers; tyres retread to the very last
shred of rubber, food and clothes shared, English language classes
held by unusual teachers in unusual locations.

Fighting a war against the
US isn’t easy – hope, hope for a better future sustains and keeps
a tiny flicker of light alive in the hearts of the Nicaraguan
people.Through friendships with the other volunteers and Nicaraguans,
Rachel comes to realize that truth and justice are not always
possible but hope is – acceptance of life’s paradoxical twists
and turns while hoping for a just outcome is the first step of
Rachel’s healing process.

I guess the way to judge
the success or failure of a first person narrative is whether a
reader, after the final credits roll, cares about the narrator and
wants to know more about their life. I did and I do.

Congratulations to Ms.
Winer – The Furthest City Light is an engrossing great read.